Google+ Badge

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Engco for rebar detailing application is a very easy-to-use tool for rebar detailing in Reinforced Concrete. This application includes five main windows for input of Foundations by all types, columns (all shapes), Beams (Continues and simple beams), Walls elevations, and Around Openings rebar.

This main program allows producing the rebar shop drawings as AutoCAD drawing (dwg) along with automatically generated bar bending schedules (BBS) as Excel Sheet to ease the modifying process which reduces error risk to almost zero.

Normally apps are installed within this folder %appdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\. %appdata% can be a location like C:\Users\jtb\AppData\Roaming\ but instead of jtb it is the Windows user login name.

The app folder can be named like JTBW-SSMPropEditor.bundle so move this .bundle folder to %programdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins (expanded it can be C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins).

After that the plug-in will show up on the Plug-ins tab for all users on that computer.

Note that you can paste a folder path like %programdata%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins to the File Explorer address field or press Windows+R, paste it and press ok.

Monday, October 27, 2014

JTB FlexReport web report demo is now available to try in beta version.

Visit http://jtbflexreportdemo.jtbworld.com/ to try the web report demo. Note the dates for available data to report on. To learn more about the reports and functionality see the Chart Client documentation. It works pretty much like the current Chart Client but gives the option to run reports in a web browser and it’s hopefully easier to get started with thanks to the wizard that is activated by default. It also works on mobile devices.

Soon it will be made available for customers to set up in their own environment and with their own database.

Please contact us if you run into any issues or have any comments on this functionality.

Example of usage: Start with Report Settings and select the Report Type you like to use as well as Date Range and some other settings. Scroll down and click on Next.

If Continuous Line Report Type is selected you have two choices, Feature Server or Detailed. Use Feature Server if you want to select only Features, Servers or groups of them. To also select Hosts, Users and groups of them select Detailed.

Dynamic Blocks. Mac users gain the ability to create and edit Dynamic Blocks—a capability previously limited to Windows users. This feature enables them to insert one block that can change shape, size, or configuration instead of inserting several static blocks.

Layer States. Mac users can also now save their layer settings as Layer States, which store information like color, linetype, and information about whether a layer is turned off, frozen, or locked. Prior to the 2015 releases, Mac users were unable to view any of the layer states information their Windows colleagues had embedded within a drawing.

Data Linking. Users who need to link a table to data in a Microsoft Excel file can use the new Data Linking feature, and their table will automatically update as external changes are made. This feature is especially helpful when managing large amounts of information about things like materials or fixtures.

Quick Select. The Quick Select tool allows users to quickly select objects based on query criteria, enabling users to easily select exactly what they need in their drawing. The Quick Select tool also includes a “preview” option so that users can see what they’re about to select before they commit to the selection.

Note: Once Autodesk Revit 2015 Update Release 4 is installed, Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 for Subscription Customers will not be able to be installed. If you are an Autodesk Subscription Customer, please refer to the Autodesk Revit 2015 R2 subscription download page prior to installing Autodesk Revit Structure 2015 Update Release 4.

Autodesk Revit 2015 R2

Release Date: 2014-09-17

With Autodesk® Revit® 2015 R2, Autodesk Maintenance and Desktop Subscription customers get access now to new features that add powerful capabilities, make Revit perform faster, and can improve modeling productivity. Fully compatible with Revit 2015 releases, Revit 2015 R2 installs without disrupting ongoing work in Revit 2015. Power: Revit 2015 R2 includes new features that enable you to do more with Revit.

· Improves stability when upgrading a project with the structural setting Check for Member Supports enabled.*

· Improves stability when creating an automatic beam system which results in short Joist elements.*

· Improves data integrity of column families location when a Revit model is inserted as a group.

· Improves stability when editing the base offset of a column.

· Improves stability when placing a structural column using improper family parameters.

· Improves stability when changing a variable floor layer to use the function ‘Structural Deck’.

Autodesk® Revit® API 2015 Updates

· Improves reliability of retrieving the current selection in an API Dockable Pane.*

· Restricts the deletion of the drafting solid fill pattern from a model by any method, including the API.*

· Improves API behavior to reflect the user interface by enabling the API user to 1) open a local model when ignorable worksharing exceptions occur, such as a central model missing; and 2) open a host model (local or central) when ignorable worksharing exceptions occur on loading the linked model, such as a linked model missing.*

· Improves stability when errors are posted during calling API Document.SynchronizeWithCentral by addons.*

· Corrects the API by changing the exception from SEHException to OperationCanceledException for API Selection.PickBox.*

· Improves stability when the Pick Points API was invoked from within a Dockable Frame.*

Improvements made in Update Release 3 build (20140606_1530):

Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2015 Updates

· Improves performance when placing a large number of adaptive components.

· Updates graphics certification file.

· Improves multi-reference annotation tag grouping when tags contains more than one label.

This Service Pack can be applied to AutoCAD Architecture 2015 installed as a standalone application as well as AutoCAD Architecture 2015 installed from the following Autodesk Design Suites and bundled product.

Finally in the readme you find Windows Command Line Switches that are useful to silently distribute the SP as well as how to Apply Service Pack in different ways like to a Network Administrative Image.

Monday, September 15, 2014

LengthText.lsp is a free AutoLisp app for AutoCAD by JTB World to add length of objects as a text field label. Select the object and then where you want the text for the length to be. When the object is modified the text will also be updated automatically based on FIELDEVAL or the settings found in the OPTIONS dialog box. The current unit settings are being used to show the length.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

A customer run into this issue: “It takes approximately 90 seconds or longer to license Revit 2013/2014, even though our Flex licensing server is on the LAN. It only takes 20 seconds to license AutoCAD, but 7x longer for Revit.”

I was not able to find the solution but eventually the customer found out that “we discovered that we were running an antiquated version of the FlexLM server. When we set up our new server, we used the latest version. This solved the Revit licensing delays. It just takes 10 seconds for all versions of Revit to license.”

JTB World has many years of experience programming for Revit for customers with both small and large complex projects so if you have anything you need to automate in Revit please feel free to contact us.

Monday, June 30, 2014

I got a critical notification that Autodesk Application Manager needs to update.

When viewing details I found that there were a lot of news in this version that are welcome by Administrators (such as CAD, BIM, and IT Managers).

Version 3 includes several enhancements to the update notification and delivery experience, as well as a new set of asset management capabilities for software administrators, now available in the Autodesk Account Portal (accounts.autodesk.com). These are described below.

Please note that the Application Manager client updates to this most current version when you install the Version 3 update.

Client-Side Conditions Before delivering an update, Application Manager checks to see if the right product files are present on your machine, acting as an extra check to ensure accuracy and reliability of new update notifications.

Check Now Provides an optional, instant check for availability of product updates, instead of waiting for the next update check interval (a configurable parameter in Settings).

Update Dependencies Automates presentation and retrieval of pre- and post-requisite packages that may be required for your update(s).

Product Extensions Product Extensions provide incremental value and functionality to your applications between major releases. When available, Application Manager will notify you of new Extensions, only if your installed applications are on a active Maintenance or Desktop Subscription agreement.

Local Package Cache Enables retrieval of Update files from a configurable, locally shared resource, rather than from an internet-based download source. This saves on bandwidth.

General Hotfixes Notification and delivery of Hotfixes that are generally available to all users. Does not include "targeted" Hotfixes, which will continue to be available via the CER (Customer Error Reporting) system.

Update Rollups Notification and delivery of aggregated Hotfixes, which have not yet been rolled up into the latest Service Pack (SP).

Administrator Tools

Administrators of Autodesk applications can login to Account Portal using their Autodesk ID. For eligible customers on Desktop or Maintenance Subscription, tools are provided for performing common administrative tasks, such as checking for all newly published product updates.

In Version 3, Administrators (such as CAD, BIM, and IT Managers) now have access to these new features, which aid in the discovery and management of product updates. For more information, please refer to the Application Manager Administrator's Guide.

Update List A single online location for learning about all of the updates currently available for the applications you own and/or manage. This simplifies the process of update discovery.

Entitlement Aware Account portal integrates to Autodesk business systems, making it possible to display restricted assets (such as Product Extensions only for Subscription customers) in the Portal as well as on the desktops running Application Manager.

Device List A simple report that displays information about all of the managed systems in your environment running 2015 products on a current Subscription agreement. This list provides the basis for managing the distribution of updates to the users within your organization.

Administrator Preferences Administrators can selectively (or globally) control the distribution of updates to managed devices that appear in the above List. The List can also edited, make it easy to identify managed users and devices in your environment.

To access the administrative area of Account Portal, your Autodesk ID will need to be assigned or promoted to administrator status within the context of an Autodesk Subscription Program, specifically as Contract Manager or Software Coordinator. If you are a CAD/IT manager who would like to access to the administrative tools in the portal, but do not have the correct status, contact your Contract Manager, or the person in your company responsible for purchasing software, and request to have Software Coordinator privileges assigned to your Autodesk ID.

Once assigned administrator privileges, and provided the Autodesk applications on your contract are currently on an active Desktop or Maintenance Subscription agreement, you will be able to access the administrative features.

About the Administrator's Role

The role of Administrator applies to anyone in your organization who is responsible for managing or supporting design software running on user machines, for example developing and applying CAD standards, creating network deployments, keeping installed applications up to date, and providing technical assistance to end users. This role may vary depending on the size of your organization. In smaller companies, Administrators such as CAD Managers may also have responsibility for other IT-focused tasks such as desktop maintenance, while in larger companies these areas are typically owned by multiple individuals.

In the Account Portal, Autodesk is making available new tools to help Administrators streamline and automate common software delivery tasks. Starting in June of 2014, the portal is being enhanced to provide Administrators with centralized access and control over the distribution of product updates and extensions to managed users in their organizations.

SmartPurger is a batch and script utility for processing multiple AutoCAD drawings with full control. Execute LSP or SCR files on multiple drawings. SmartPurger handles crashes so the AutoCAD batch processing continues to the end and leaves bad drawings to be corrected manually if needed. Many purge and cleanup settings are available.

The free trial is fully functional except that you can only batch process 10 drawings per session to give you the chance to confirm that the program works as expected. When you purchase you can use SmartPurger with no limitations.

This Service Pack can be applied to AutoCAD Architecture 2015 installed as a standalone application as well as AutoCAD Architecture 2015 installed from the following Autodesk Design Suites and bundled product.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

The Flexera software download page for FlexNet files will no longer be available after July 31, 2104. After that date, users of FlexEnabled software must contact the publisher of that software to obtain license server managers (lmadmin and lmgrd) and related utilities (lmutil and lmtools).

This is too bad. This means that it will be harder to access updates as the publishers usually make these available several months or more after the FlexNet license server managers and utilities are updated.

If you have FlexEnabled software you want to monitor usage for check out our JTB FlexReport solution.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

I was notified about Autodesk BIM 360 add-in app for Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 64-bit R1 Update and noticed the severity was high and details that said “Updated authentication security” among other things. Seems like reason to install. I clicked on View Details to see more but just ended up on the BIM 360 page.

I had expected to get to a web page with more details about the update as well as download links. I wonder if there is one or not? Is there an update for 32-bit too? As a CAD manager you want to be able to distribute updates like this in a controlled manner. Now the install probably has to be retrieved from the folder “Autodesk Application Manager” found in the Documents folder for the current user.

Monday, June 16, 2014

JTB Align Plus for AutoCAD has commands that will copy and align your text, block or selection of objects at picked point of selected line or curve. Curve can be Arc, Circle, Polyline, Leader or 3D Polyline, in current space as well as nested inside Blocks or Xrefs.

Text will be aligned and placed at an the same offset distance as text in current dimension style. Block will be aligned and fit tangentially to curve.

If you pick on text or block, or on empty space, Match Text Content or Match Block command will run, help you easily manage your drawing's tags and symbol blocks.

Want to know more about what JTB Align Plus can do? Take a look at the JTB Align Plus page.

Controls the display of visual aide badges near the cursor like the erase badge in red below.

Type: Integer Saved in: Registry Initial value: 2

1 - Turn off all new badges 2 - Turn on all badges (Default)

Badges that will be disabled:

Selection - cross and window selection

Inspection

Deletion

Copy

Move

Rotate

Scale

Zoom

Add vertex

Covert to arc

Hatch inherit property

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility

As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, several problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made in the following commands and features:

DB Connect

Occasional crashes when using DB Connect feature on 64-bit machines with 4GB and more RAM.

Status Bar

Occasional crashes when opening drawing file when a bubble notification is still displayed.

New Tab

Occasional crashes when clicking New in the Quick Access Toolbar or the Start Drawing tile on the New Tab page.

Occasional crashes when clicking the New Tab Plus button after adding LayerFilterComboControl or Filter in the CUI dialog box.

Design Center

Occasional crashes when inserting a block from Design Center on the second time.

General

Occasional crashes when selecting the "Fully open the drawing file" option that displays when opening a drawing that was saved in the partial open state.

Occasional crashes when exiting AutoCAD.

General Service Pack Updates

The following defects have been fixed:

3D Modeling

Using the ViewCube dropdown for selecting a saved UCS will not accept UCS names that contain a space.

The SCALE command is not applied correctly for scale factors less than 1/100th.

Display

Cursor trails will display on the screen for users with Optimus or Dynamic Switchable Graphics technology.

Hatch

Lineweight is applied and displayed for solid hatch objects.

Additional lines display in the selection highlighting for a solid hatch object.

Hatch objects do not apply LAYLOCKFADECTL or XDWGFADECTL.

The angle of a gradient changes the appearance of that gradient.

Solid hatch objects display the edge color.

Plot

ViewCube will appear on plots under certain conditions.

VBA

Unable to execute SendCommand API in multiple drawings.

General

The number of recently used files accepts a maximum of 10. The maximum has been restored to 50.

Security Hotfix

This Service Pack includes the Autodesk AutoCAD Security Hotfix. This Service Pack can be applied whether that security hotfix was originally applied to your system or not.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Who doesn’t want to boost their productivity in AutoCAD! Autodesk has made available 150+ AutoCAD Keyboard Shortcuts on this page with printable version of all shortcuts and a template for keyboard stickers. From A as in Arc to ZIP that runs ETRANSMIT (can created zipped transmittal packages). Personally I always change C from Circle to Copy.

If you want to add or change keyboard shortcuts most of them are found in the PGP file that you easiest can access using Edit Aliases on the Manage tab.

Or the Command Aliases command on the Express Tools tab. (Requires Express Tools to be installed)

When done it can be needed to restart AutoCAD or run the REINIT command and select the PGP File checkbox.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Here’s a question about the layer drop-down in AutoCAD I got that I think others also can run into so I wanted to share the solution.

We are having an issue with the Layer drop-down menu on one of our AutoCAD stations.

When we select a line that was drawn on layer "A-Line" the drop down menu does not update to shown which layer the line is on.

If I select a layer from the drop down menu and draw a new line on layer "B-Line" and then select any other line in the drawing it appears to be on layer "B-Line" because the Layer menu does not seem to be updating.

Do you know what the problem may be? Since this is only a problem on one persons computer, is there a setting that may have accidentally been turned off?

The solution is to set PICKFIRST to 1 (just enter PICKFIRST on the command line). PICKFIRST controls whether you select objects before (noun-verb selection) or after you issue a command.

A security update for the Autodesk 360 desktop client has also been developed. This update will be provided via Live Update through the Autodesk 360 desktop client. If you declined the Live Update you can check the Autodesk Trust Center Page for additional details and alternative download options as they become available. For AutoCAD users:

AutoCAD 2015: Please just install the AutoCAD Security Hotfix on this page. You do not need to install the Autodesk 360 desktop client update but it is fine if you already have. AutoCAD 2014: You do not need to install this AutoCAD Security Hotfix. Please install the Autodesk 360 desktop client update.

This hotfix addresses Heartbleed OpenSSL vulnerability - a security bug in the open-source OpenSSL cryptography library. Heartbleed is registered in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures system as CVE-2014-0160. For more information, please visit the CVE dictionary at http://cve.mitre.org.

For other Autodesk Security related Hotfixes see this page where right now it’s also available for Inventor.

Here’s the explanation from Autodesk: “As of January 31, 2014, Autodesk is no longer authorized to distribute VBA 6 or earlier versions of VBA for use with Autodesk AutoCAD and other Autodesk products. This change affects the availability to download and install VBA for Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 or earlier, VBA remains available for Autodesk AutoCAD 2014 and Autodesk AutoCAD 2014-based products because those products support VBA 7.1.” (FAQ) Same with AutoCAD 2015.

It’s just too bad this information is not directly seen on the download page where you end up on if you for example run the VBAIDE, VBALOAD, VBAMAN commands without having VBA installed.

If you need VBA for AutoCAD 2013 or older, you will need to find an alternative download (might not be safe) or you need to upgrade to the latest AutoCAD release or migrate your custom programs to AutoLISP, ObjectARX, or Managed .NET (VB.NET or C++). JTB World can help with customization and migration work.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

The updated FlexNet (FLEXlm) version 11.12.1 (based on Flexera Software’s FlexNet Publisher 2014 R1) has been released and is now available as a public download as well as the updated License Administration Guide.

Here are the news in Version 11.12.1 as far as I could find. There might be some bug fixes too that not are documented.

Support reclaim of borrowed license (trusted storage)

Improved Virtualization support

“Binding in a Virtual Environment” subject has been updated on page 25. The text “Do not change MAC address of the virtual machine.” has been added as well.

lmgrd.exe, lmutil.exe and lmtools.exe are all version 11.12.1 now. It might take some time before vendors start supporting this new version but it most probably will work to update it if you for some reason want or need to do it.

JTB World’s JTB FlexReport license monitoring tool has been tested with and supports this new version.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Autodesk AutoCAD 2015 was released last week and now available as trial too.

As you can see AutoCAD has a new updated look with a the theme darker. There are also several nice new features to consider. I’m updating the page about AutoCAD 2015 so it’s not yet complete and I’ll post more about it later on too.

Most JTB World’s apps will just work with AutoCAD 2015 as they are and where needed they soon will be updated to work fully with AutoCAD 2015.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

If you visit www.autodesk.com/trueview you will find that the English version of Autodesk DWG TrueView 2015 now is available for download. Note that only Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are supported operating systems.

By default there is a dark color scheme and some icons have an updated look. Layout Tabs is a new icon that lets you display or hide layout and model tabs. The status bar where the coordinates are is now on the same row as the layout tabs.

The “New Tab” lets you open files and access Recent Documents.

In DWG Convert Modify Conversion Setup, “Remove Design Feed” is a new option.

In the post AutoCAD Educational Version - Plot Stamp Not Detected! I speculated that “Autodesk DWG TrueView 2015 and DWG Convert to batch re-save drawings to get rid of the stamp.” and after testing I can verify that DWG Convert now remove the educational plot stamp just by re-saving the drawings. If you want to know if you have any of these infected drawings in your network use JTB World’s EduFinder.

Goodbye to “Educational Version - Plot Stamp Detected This drawing will display the message, "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT," Do you want to continue? If you continue, the message will mark this drawing and any drawings that reference it.”

SMS and SCCM Integration ReadMe Improvements in Autodesk® deployment technology allow many administrators to streamline their process of integrating Autodesk deployments on Microsoft® Systems Management Server (SMS) and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). In most cases, Autodesk deployments can now be advertised using a single program line instead of individual program lines for each component in the deployment. To advertise a deployment with a single program line, use the following syntax: .\Img\Setup.exe /W /Q /I .\Img\<deployment name>.ini /language en-us This sample command line assumes that the package contents are defined at the root folder of your Autodesk product deployment folder, and that the product language is US English (en-us). If you have created a combined deployment and you would like to advertise it, use the following syntax: .\img\Setup.exe /w /x86 <adminImage's name> /x64 <adminImage's name>

Component-level Advertisement Special circumstances such as execution time limits may require you to advertise an Autodesk deployment at the component level. Please refer to <deployment name>_SCCM.txt for a listing of required program lines in the order they must occur on target computers. These commands will vary by deployment. For long command lines, use a batch file.

This gives us an early sneak peek of what AutoCAD 2015 will look like. If you wonder about its system requirements they are already available here. You also find that AutoCAD 2015 is the only version officially supporting Windows 8.1 at this point.

I’ve also heard that Autodesk Subscription downloads already have 2015 available as well as the news that Network Licensing for AutoCAD LT 2015 is available and thus JTB FlexReport will also be able to monitor these FlexNet-based network licenses.

Monday, March 24, 2014

What is changing around the upgrade policy?As of February 1, 2015, Autodesk will no longer offer the option to purchase an upgrade version of the latest software release if you own a perpetual license* to a previous version. New versions will be available through purchase of a new perpetual license for the current version or as a Subscription benefit.

*A perpetual license grants the license holder the right to use the version of Autodesk software that is purchased for as long as desired.

Why is Autodesk eliminating upgrades?Autodesk is evolving its business model to achieve a stronger and ongoing relationship with its customers, offering perpetual software licenses with Subscription and Desktop Subscriptions (software rental) as the primary purchasing options.

Starting in 2015, we will stop selling upgrades to simplify the offering and in recognition of the fact that most of our customers are on Subscription.

Purchasing Autodesk Subscription is the most cost effective way to stay current and competitive in today’s market. We continue to provide enhanced value and experiences to Subscription customers, such as flexible licensing rights, and access to select additional Autodesk® 360 cloud services, among others.

AutoCAD 2014 for Mac Service Pack 1 is available here and AutoCAD LT 2014 for Mac Service Pack 1 is available here.

Readme details about AutoCAD 2014 for Mac Service Pack 1:

Problems Reported with the Customer Error Reporting Utility As a result of detailed information from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting (CER) utility, a number of problems were identified and fixed. Updates have been made to the following features: Block -Crash when making blocks in some situation. Copy/paste -Crash when copy/paste in some drawings. Drafting -Random crash during drawing and editing. Startup -Crash at startup due to some user profiles missing. -Random crash at startup when getting the Displcay Card infomation. View -Crash when click the viewport control label.

The following general changes and improvements have been made: AutoCAD LT -Align command missing in LT. Image -Image underlay shows twisted or white/black bands when zooming in canvas. License -Cannot activate AutoCAD with some suite serial number, like Education Master suite serial number. Other -System animation(scrolling or switching desktop) glitches after force quit AutoCAD in some situation. -Typo in lynda.com link in AutoCAD. -Mis-use of Lucida Grande font. Plot -AutoCAD hangs when plotting drawings in some situation. -Plot stamp now shows the system time on local machine. -Image underlay is not fully displayed in plotted result.

And an enhancement: Now you can Reset AutoCAD at startup by holding Shift+click AutoCAD(or AutoCAD LT) icon. This helps in the case when you cannot start AutoCAD normally.

Monday, March 3, 2014

JTB World’s SSMPropEditor version 5.1 is now available. If you use the Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD this app can save you a lot of time with its ability to index sheets, increment property values and edit Sheet Properties or Sheet Custom Properties on multiple sheets at the same time.

The main news in this release are:

Added Polish language.

30-day trial added without need to request a trial license.

Added ability to drag and drop a DST file into SSMPropEditor to open the Sheet Set.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

There was a change in AutoCAD 2014 SP1 that can put you in problems. If you open, plot or save a drawing you will not be aware that the drawing have been saved with an Educational version of AutoCAD and thus unknowingly infecting a lot of drawings that you will have problem to use in older versions. I think this is a very dangerous bug that was introduced. In AutoCAD 2014 without SP1, AutoCAD 2013 and older you will see this dialog box. “Educational Version - Plot Stamp Detected This drawing will display the message, "PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT," Do you want to continue? If you continue, the message will mark this drawing and any drawings that reference it.”

The plan is that in AutoCAD 2015 it will be possible to save drawings with the plot stamp and then have it removed permanently. That is at least good news. I guess it will also work with Autodesk DWG TrueView 2015 and DWG Convert to batch re-save drawings to get rid of the stamp.

“The educational plot stamp has been a part of the Educational version of AutoCAD for a long time. It was meant to prevent commercial use being done with an educational version of the product. Recently, a decision was made to no longer show this stamp, even on files created with the EDU version. Starting with the installation of SP1 for the 2014 products, files will no longer show the stamp when plotting, nor will they give a warning message when opening them. However, the stamp is still attached to the file even though it is not showing.”

“So yes, the danger is that someone with 2014 SP1 could open a file and work on it without realizing it has the educational stamp on it. If they then send that to someone without SP1, or on an earlier version, that user will see the warning and the stamp. At this time, using 2014 with SP1 will still propagate the stamp to other drawings, as in the past. The current plan (and please keep in mind that this could change), but the current plan is that the 2015 version will have the ability to remove the stamp altogether if a Save is performed. You'd then be able to save a file in 2015, and send it back to users on earlier versions, and the stamp will be gone altogether. More information will be provided on this as we go on as to what the final implementation will be.”

If you want to identify drawings with the Educational Plot Stamp try our EduFinder app that is able to batch process all your drawings and find those with the stamp. Due to the change in AutoCAD 2014 SP1 the app might not be able to find them unless you also have for example AutoCAD 2013 installed or remove the AutoCAD 2014 SP1.